525,600 Minutes
by azuretruths
Summary: How do you measure? The moments we hold so dear. A series of One shots. Since its like the only thing I seem to be doing lately. Title, part of this summary inspired by "Seasons of Love." The events are in no particular order.
1. Pie

Disclaimer: I do not own Bones.

And if I did, Agent Perotta would strangely [or not so strangely] disappear from the face of Earth.

Booth/Cam would have never happened

Sully would suck it and go somewhere else

* * *

"Hey Bones! Woah..whats with the flowers?" Booth asked as her casually plopped down at her couch while watching his Bones..yes..his Bones write furiously..as usual. Usual. Yes. Everything was just usual. Her office. The furniture. Her usual working habits..and..her work pile. The only things that weren't usual..were the flowers. They were bright red tulips, all wrapped in a fancy bow and put in a pink vase.

More scribbling until she finally spoke.

"Sully sent them."

Sully. The name enough made Booth want to..do what exactly? He felt his chest constrict as he shuffled uneasily on the couch.

"So..he's back? What'd he do? Did he visit you?" He practically hounded her, wanting to know every single detail. Booth felt like..somewhat like a designated body guard to her. If anybody hurt Bones..oh they were just asking for an early funeral. And he was sure she would return the gesture. They were..just partners right? Just partners. Yes.

"Yes. He's back. Sent me tulips...even though I did tell him I liked daffodils..although the thought that counts.." She muttered, before looking up at him from her work and giving him a wry smile.

"You have a new case?"

"Nah. More along the lines, of guiding you to becoming human again. Like eating. Or..taking a break from work once in a while..and carrot sticks and those weird bars you eat don't count."

He replied evenly, a cocky smile riding up on his lips again.

He blinked at the tulips again.

But he knew. He knew that her favorite flowers were Daffodils..second favorite were Daisies. He knew Bones definitely.

----------------------------------------------------

He was back again. At her office, watching her finish up some more paper work, to wrap up the last case. But aside from the tulips, there was a new vase standing right next to it. A turquoise vase with a single daffodil in it. Not much, yet, elegant and beautiful..and lonely. Compared to the tulips that is. Hiding his smirk he cleared his throat.

"Another flower? Geez..someone likes you.." He muttered to her lazily, watching closely for her reaction. _Booth, don't get your hopes up._

"I don't know..although the daffodil is really lovely. My favorite..whoever sent the daffodil must of been very kind..or my stalker. How would..whoever sent it know that it was my favorite flower?" She at first replied in a rather sincere tone before crinkling her nose in confusion. Booth chuckled at her facial expression, a smug smile put firmly on his face.

Typical Bones. Who else would know that the Daffodil was her favorite flower? Oblivious as always..

"I know you Bones.." He spoke to himself quietly before standing up, grabbing her jacket and proceeded to drag her away from her desk.

"Huh? Whats that Booth?" She asked, slightly confused and giving up fighting against a tugging Booth to go to lunch.

"Hm? Nah, I was just saying that today is the day that you eat.."

"Oh not pie again. I told you Booth! I don't like my fruit cooked! Today's Wednesday..that means today is Cherry pie day isn't it? I will never understand how you can eat that.."

"Cherry pie day?"

"You have a certain pattern of choosing flavors for pies Booth..don't roll your eyes at me..Alpha Males like you tend to keep to a routine that.."

The pair bickered all the way to the diner about pie.

Booth grinned to himself as he tried his best to look like he was listening to whatever squinty logic Bones was talking about.

Turned out she knew him too. Cherry pie day it was.

**Authors Note:**

Booth and his pie cracks me up.

I just had to write about it. Cherry Pie day. \o/


	2. Date

Angela Montenegro tried her best honestly.

She tried her best into making Booth admit he was head over heels in love with Brennan. She tried her best into making Brennan admit she had feelings for the sexy FBI stud. _Just Partners?_ LIES. SUCH LIES. Then again, Brennan didn't lie, so Angela had to just go with them being in great denial. Everybody in the Forensics department called their partnership and bonding..a miracle. Aside from the bickerings, banterings, they seemed to..what was Sweets' words of saying it. Complement. Yes. Indeed, they complemented each other..in the most weirdest ways ever..but they did.

Spinning on her chair from her office, she sighed happily. If only she could make Bren see it, the way her partner sometimes stared at her when she wasn't noticing, or the fact he seemed to have some sort of monitor on her that let him know where she was and if she ate yet. If only. If only she could tell her best friend that everytime she seemed to be dating someone else, she probably broke his heart into a..billion pieces..without getting her ass kicked to Peru.

If only.

This concluded into one thing: Matchmaker Angie was here, and she was determined to get through that smart brain of her friend's. Now, this was usually strange of her to suddenly decide to sabotage or try to prevent her bestfriend friend from dating, something she usually encouraged. She also encouraged after having a nice date, having hot steamy sex afterwards. But this was different.

Poor, poor Booth. Especially having that news coming from her, not "Bones" herself.

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Booth wanted to shoot the guy. Whoever he was, that was planning to take his Bones for a dinner while tonight should've been "Screw it, lets call for takeout, eat greasy food, get fat and slave over more of the god damn paperwork night." And he had to learn this from Angela, her best friend.

This sucked. This sucked a lot. Seeing Angela's.._evil_ grin at him didn't help either. "Don't worry Booth. Not gonna last too long. Nobody gets her the way you do. Well..except for me..but then again, best friends help much sweetie?"

Booth chuckled nervously before deciding that it was Bones' lunchtime.

He may not have dinner with her, but at least getting her to eat, having her steal his fries and a good fifteen minute of bickering about the heavenly goodness of PIE was good enough for him.

Pie would console him. Today was Banana Cream day definitely.

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Temperance Brennan wasn't really stoked for the date. It was more like to every guy that came up to her "OH WELL, thats really great that you're some Scientist/Best selling officer, you're really a hot chick, lets talk about ME, starting from day one when I pooped in a diaper for the first time." Well, maybe she did exxagerate a bit with the pooping in the diaper. What was it that Angela once said to her? Girls deserved a guy that could make her smile, gave her space when she needed it, knew her well, was willing to die for the girl, and was more concerned for the girl then he was. Of course, she, herself scoffed and said there was probably zero chance of that guy being somewhere and told Angela she was going to that old lady who lived with ten cats and was invited to Family reunions because they just felt sorry for her. And what was that reaction Angela gave her? "I don't know about _that_ sweetie..that guy is just waiting for you to come around..thats all..."

Sometimes her bestfriend could be awfully confusing. What did she mean anyways? Which guy was she talking about? The hypothetical guy they were discussing or..what?

A date. But after all, it was a guy she had met through Angela. So why not? Just give it a shot, enjoy the nice dinner, and take of while being as polite as possible. Contrary to what Booth thought, no, she did not have sex after every single date. That'd have to be Angela anyways.

After spending the entire evening with Booth reviewing over notes, declining to go to Wong Foo's for dinner even if that did sound much better then dressing up all over again for some weasel guy, she drove herself home and prepared herself for a long evening.

She had turned down his friendly invite, friend to friend, even she did caught that sad, longing look clearly set in Booth's dark brown eyes, as he charmingly grinned at her, patted her on the shoulder and wished her luck for the next douche bag she was about to date.

She should've scolded him for calling her date a douche bag, how annoying that he kept inserting his Alpha Male tendencies. But she didn't. She couldn't. Not after seeing the depth of feeling from his eyes. She merely packed up, and promised that if she did find pie on the dessert menu, she'd bring some for him in a doggie bag.

That put that goofy smile back on his face. But the eyes were still there.


	3. Engagement

"Marriage is an archaic ritual that has been practiced over thousands of years.."

"Geez Bones. Just asked what you thought of marriage..thats all."

"Well, as I've said before Booth. I don't need a piece of paper..or a ring to show my commitment. People break their commitments the whole time..whats the point of a paper or a ring?"

"I wouldn't do that."

He spoke quietly, eyes set on the road ahead of them as they were driving back to the Jeffersonian.

"I know you wouldn't Booth. You're an Alpha Male, you wouldn't let your pack down, you always must lead. Typically, Alpha Males like you tend to.."

"Bones, quit with the Alpha Male talk."

"Its true Booth! All the scientific studies!"

"Pfft."

_He wouldn't do that. Just like he won't...betray me. I trust him definitely. Trust. _

------------------------------------------

It appeared in her office suddenly.

A velvet box.

It had been two weeks after being under cover as a married couple, once again. They had to act the part. Kiss in front of everyone. Heads bent together, talking. After they finished their investigation, Booth had avoided her for two weeks. Why? Why had he suddenly stopped appearing in her office? Why didn't he pick up her calls? Those questions swarmed in her head and confused her. What happened? She certainly didn't understand. Maybe he was taking a break, went off to vacation and didn't tell her.

She figured she give it another week before she requested a new partner. Even though it would break her heart if she did.

And just suddenly the box was there.

Besides the ring..a beautiful ring..the logical part of her, not the snotty part,wondered if whether he spent his entire life savings on the ring. After all, the government didn't pay very well..well..not good enough for her standards. Especially the work he did and that situations he got in. But besides that, was a carefully folded note. Opening it up she read the the familiar script slowly, letting it sink in her brain. Trying to make her brain really understand.

_Bones,_

_Before you start on the "archaic ritual" crap on me.._

_just..consider it. Yeah, the commitment maybe on a_

_piece of paper..but who cares about a piece of paper_

_anyways? _

_P.s._

_If its lunch time soon, EAT. Remember you're a human,_

_not a machine. Seriously. _

_Booth._

Checking the clock, it was only nine. More time to think. To understand. Being the person again, she tried to rationalize this simple gesture. But if made her feel even more confused again. Why ignore her for two weeks and suddenly, without simple notice, give her a ring, a beautiful crafted diamond ring in exchange for her love? She had denied her feelings for a very long time, contrary to what people said. Yet she refused to spill a single drop of her emotions, for fear he was going to leave her all over again. And she was sick of that pain that kept being walled up inside of her.

Snapping the box shut, she simply turned away from it, deciding to focus on her work. Not a single case had turned up, one which she retreated to examining the amount of corpses that were stored inside the Jeffersonian. The work was..logical. Nothing irrational. Scientific evidence was there. But was there scientific reasoning for her emotions? Not a single thing.

-------------------------------------------------

Booth, for the past two weeks of avoiding her, felt like the whole universe exploded, a few more Big Bangs had occured and that the world was going to end soon as he finally walked inside. For the two weeks, after finishing that last case, he had requested some time off from cases. Time to concentrate on feelings, spending more time with Parker, making sure his little boy approved, and trying to win some approval with himself.

Fine. He loved Bones.

For a long time he had always loved her.

She may of thought she was all alone in the world. But for once, she was wrong. So dead wrong in that matter. What part of her couldn't understand that concept? He'd die for her a thousand times over. And he did. He took a bullet for her, that resulted in a two week hiding. Two weeks. The same amount of time he had taken to avoid her.

Crap. She'd probably slug him again for that, and for..his..well..he'd take the slugging gratefully and walk away feeling rejected. Once again. Once he got it from Rebecca. The second time was going to happen pretty soon. He was going to be brave. He was going to face the fact he was a total reject. And pretty soon, she'd request to change partners.

Booth did remember years ago, that he had been the fifth agent, put in as a liason between the Jeffersonian and the FBI. All past Agents had let him know plenty before time about the "Ice Queen." He had refused to listen, confident that he was going to be different. What he realized, was that they didn't see really who she was. She was Temperance Brennan. Fearless, beautiful, intelligent, yet so vulnerable deep inside. There was still the abandoned fifteen year old in there somewhere. And he became determined to befriend her, actually make this work. But fate was a cruel thing. Not only did he manage to befriend her, an achievement compared to the rest of the Agents, he had somehow fallen in love with her as well. With her personality, her quirkiness, and well..her looks too. For the two weeks he had spent avoiding her, like the cowardly man he was, he truly missed her squint talk and the whole "Alpha-Male" talk. Missed the bickering. And missed her fry stealing as well.

Love really sucked sometimes. And fate was a cruel..cruel thing.

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Angela squealed when she saw the velvet box. And she knew immedietly who gave it to her. It could mean the one and only thing: The hunky FBI agent finally proposed!

"Sweetie! Are you going to say yes or no?" She asked excitedly to Brennan, who was looking rather distraught and..confused.

"Well..I don't know..we never dated or anything like that and-"

"You..never dated?" Angela broke in, skepticism clearly in her voice.

"Well, yes, generally I thought that first it was meeting, dating, and then pro-"

"Honey. Takeout at midnight? Lunches? Dinosaur Museum trips with Parker and Booth? You're smart, I know. Smarter then all of us. Dating. Really Bren...sometimes.."

"We are just-"

"Partners I know Bren. If you think about it, you kinda don't need to go through the whole formal crap. Casual chilling counts too.."

"But.."

"Come on. You know you love him....its natural to feel this way Bren.."

"You certainly didn't waste time saying yes or no to Hodgins."

"Ha! Well, I think with my heart. You think with your brain..all the time. Time you start listening to your heart. Sounds corny, but hey..it works you know?"

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At the platform, the whole "squint squad" noticed suddenly the new piece of jewelary that Dr. Brennan wore. They smirked to each other, handed over wads of cash while she wasn't looking, but didn't say a single word about it. Angela smiled so hard that she thought her cheeks were going to explode. Hodgins won the bet. The new intern got beaten around as usual. Sweets was told he was twelve years old again. Cam exchanged evil looks with Angela.

"Hey you Squints! Miss me?"

"BOOTH!"

"Sup G-Man?"

"Hello Agent Booth."

"Hey."

Booth avoided looking at his partners direction, who so far did not even bother to greet him, whom was bent over the bones. By the time he did look up, he noticed that Bones was looking straight at him, with her clear, blue eyes.

Then he saw it. Around her neck.

Silent communication.

He held the gaze for a few seconds before grinning like an idiot at her. She simply shrugged and turned back to the corpse, ordered the new intern around and told Sweets to get off the platform.

Typical Bones. The ring was stringed into a silver necklace and was glinting brightly against the bright light above the platform.

"OOOH! CAN I PLAN OUT YOUR WEDDING? OH BREN..WE MUST FIGURE OUT THEMES!"

The squint squad groaned as Angela finally cracked and succeeded in dragging Bones off the platform, and to her office.

Somethings never changed.

**Authors Note:**

Was it mushy? Hopefully not..

I love Angela. I really do.


	4. Artists

Angela was in another one of her "I am the artist, I love the whole world, and the whole world loves me" sort of moods. Whenever she happened to be in one of those moods, she always liked to sketch a bit. Producing an image for the victim could wait a while longer, the victim wasn't going anywhere was it? Smiling happily towards herself, she grabbed the nearest sketch pad, found a pencil with the end chewed on it and happily submitted herself to drawing. Musing slightly, she inspected the much chewed on pencil.

What should she draw?

Muse. She needed muse.

Looking around, several objects cluttered in her office caught her eye, but it just..wasn't it. "It" as in the perfect thing for her to sketch, doodle a bit, slop down some water colors and call it a day. Not perfect. Not perfect enough.

Raised voices. Familiar voices as well. Voices that she knew so well. The spark. Angela felt it in the veins. Of course..she didn't need a visual object for her to draw after all. She could see it in her head. Beautiful, fierce, simple yet..different.

Muse.

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"We have no scientific evidence yet! How can..how can you know? A homeless child Booth!"

"Remember that time where you said that my gut can be reliable eh?"

"Booth!"

The man in the suit shrugged sheepishly before staring intently at the woman who was busily examining the human remains, clad in a blue lab coat, blue gloves and a tired expression.

"We will find out who did this Bones." The man muttered over to the woman in the blue lab coat, still gazing at her. Observing her.

"I know Booth. But I want to be _sure._ Your gut can be reliable..."

The man started to grin widely.

"BUT, evidence is needed to make the official charges..and we can't just bang through the door and arrest him..or her."

"Its burst through the door Bones. Burst not Bang. You're right..just..hurry up a bit alright? I'm starving."

--------------------------------------------------------------

"Bren! Booth! Hey! You two!" Angela caught up to the pair, paper cluctched to her chest, smiling like Christmas had come early.

"Before you two love birds go to eat..I have something for the two of you. Now you have to share, don't go fighting for it.."

The partners exchanged exasperated glances while Booth rubbed his stomach in exxagerated motions as to show everyone exactly how hungry he was. Brennan smiled at her best friend, only sparing a disapproved glance towards her partner's direction.

"This. Is for you two. Describes you both." Angela turned the paper so it faced up and presented it proudly to the two. She wasn't surprised at their reactions after all. But perhaps, the two of them would find the artist within them and know what the drawing..or symbolic picture meant. Maybe it would wake the two of them up. Well, it was more like Bren needed to wake up and actually see..Booth was finally getting it..good of him actually.

On the paper was a circle. A round circle, sketched by a pencil and redrawn over it several times. In the circle was a large heart, painted by watercolors with a nice, simple red. On the bottom of the drawing, was scribbled "Trust, by Angela Montenegro."

"Wow..Angela..this is really uni-...Angela?" Brennan recovered first, looking around for her best friend that suddenly vanished. Shrugging to herself, she gazed towards Booth, who was gazing straight back at her. Cerulean eyes versus Chocolate brown eyes. One of the so called "Booth and Brennan moments" that their colleagues had kindly dubbed when they had one of their starings.

Angela, who was now back at her office, opened up the blinds slightly and felt very pleased with herself. Pleased enough to try and contain herself from excitement and screaming "JUST MAKE OUT ALREADY."

Perhaps they were finally seeing. The artists within had perhaps come out.


	5. Replaced

Replacement can be a cruel thing. When you're fired from a job, you're replaced by another dweeb, who has that smug expression on their face. It hurts. It burns, deeply. Perhaps, if you and your friend have a fall out, and the next day, your friend has replaced you in their social circle. You're officially out in the cold. No longer important. As if it had never really happened.

And thats how Max Keenan..or Matthew Brennan felt.

No father ever wants to be replaced. However, this was his worthy punishment. Abandoning your own daughter, at age fifteen, under circumstances was slow torture for him. Feeling shut out? He had called it upon himself. No. He didn't want to be replaced. But it was done. His replacement was doing a much better job then he felt he ever did. He was glad, happy for that. Yet resentful all the same. He wished his daughter would open up to him..a little bit. He wanted to know the Temperance Brennan of today. Not the Joy Keenan he always saw in his eyes as his little girl was growing up. The smart, reowned Forensic Anthropologist, stunning Dr. Temperance Brennan.

How proud he was. How proud. Ruth would be proud. Ruth.

As he stood above, looking down at the platform, he smiled proudly as he watched his daughter pour over the bones, looking for any details that might tell her anything.

"Heya Max."

Agent Seeley Booth. His daughters partner..and..friend. Replacement? Certainly. Max waited for the jealousy and anger to come. It never came. Just a feeling of relief. Relief? Why? Max should be angrily yelling at him, for taking _his_ spot. Was this Seeley Booth there to see his little girl take her first steps? No. Was this Seeley Booth there, watching his daughter take up her first award as a first grader at a science fair? No.

"Hey Booth."

The two men gazed down at the platform, both watching her as she bustled around, interrogated a few more terrified interns and studied the bones some more.

"Heh. Tempe here..looks so much like her mother. Same eyes. Eye color and all..the hair..as rational as always." Max had no idea why he was telling this to the agent. The one that arrested him and punched him in the parking lot.

"You know..I had to beg Ruth to marry me. Begged for a whole month. Until she finally gave in when I threatened to jump off a bridge if she didn't accept." He continued on, beginning to ramble a bit.

_I'm an old man. I have some faults._

"Love...is a difficult thing. Sometimes you have to wait it out for a long time. But if you got it..if you feel it..you can wait. You can wait." He halted in his words, glancing sideways to look at the agent. The agent still gazed down at the platform, and he gave a slight nod.

"Er..well..gotta go drag Bones off for lunch. I'm teaching your daughter how to be more human..like eating right on schedule..thanks for the talk Max!"

Max grinned in spite of himself. Love could wait. He truly loved his daughter. In this, he could wait for her to finally come back to papa's waiting arms. Max was pretty sure the agent would wait too.


	6. TV

**Author's note:**

Boring drabble. Just had to get it out of my system anyways..

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The last time he was sick, he was dating another blonde lawyer; Delilah.

She had made him home made chicken soup, and let him watch his favorite TV shows, cartoons, no matter how dumb they were.

This time he was sick, he had called Bones to let her know he couldn't make it to work that day.

She had brought him chicken noodle soup from the soup place he liked, a heating pad, a large jug of water and made him sleep.

"You need to drink lots of fluids and you need to rest."

"But I can rest AND watch TV at the same time."

"That's not exactly resting. Resting is --"

At the end, he was too tired and sick to resist and gave in to her wishes. At the end it helped a lot too.

When he woke up, feeling fresh and extremely comfortable, it was no surprise that Bones was dozing right next to him.

He grinned evilly and turned on the TV.


End file.
